Little Hawk, I still find everything you have written most interesting and reasonable. But may I point out that it all pertains to Little Hawk's view and experience of religion, not religion as it is generally understood by either the leaders and holy texts of the various faiths or by the vast majority of religious believers.

I therefore think that the comments I made in my original post still stand.

I could scarcely agree more with your final comment, 'become a man not a machine.' - that is, think creatively and assesss each idea you experience on its own merits.

Could I politely point out that this is not what most religions want a person to do? They all have quite rigid rules and a way of viewing the world that believers MUST (or at least should)hold.

The freedom we have in western countries to adopt only the parts of faiths that we like while abandoning others, or to adopt a syncretic approach to parts of different religions we admire, or to hold a mixture of religious/secular ideas about life (which seems to be your approach) is a freedom won FROM religion, in the Enlightenment -not a freedom granted BY religion.